IU to host Duke in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

The Hoosiers will host the Blue Devils at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in this season’s installment of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the program confirmed Thursday.

The date, tipoff and television assignment will be announced at a later date.

It’ll be the ninth all-time matchup between the two programs, and the first since Duke whooped IU, 94-74, in the 2015 ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Durham. The Blue Devils are projected as a top 10 team in many of the early, unofficial top 25 rankings.

Duke, led by senior guard Grayson Allen, also welcomes in the nation’s No. 2 incoming recruiting class, according to 247 Sports.

Other marquee matchups include Louisville at Purdue, Notre Dame at Michigan State, North Carolina vs. Michigan and Syracuse at Maryland.

This will be the second consecutive year that IU has hosted a Challenge matchup. The Hoosiers are also scheduled to travel to Seton Hall for this year’s Gavitt Tipoff Games, which pit Big Ten teams against those from the Big East. The Hoosiers will also begin a series with Louisville this season, beginning with a Dec. 9 game at the KFC Yum! Center. IU will also play Notre Dame in the annual Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Let’s just say the Butler fans weren’t exactly thrilled with that idea. The responses to that tweet were unanimous.

I know Dickie V has a soft spot for his coaching buddies. I know it is fashionable to hate on him. He’s just an affable guy who likes seeing his friends do well (it does make watching him call Duke games unlistenable). Either way, it is a really dumb comment. The roster that Crean left Archie only has ONE Indiana kid on it (Hartman). Butler won in entirely the opposite way that Crean built his program IU. I can’t think of a worse fit.

Dickie V is probably a great guy, just hate listening to him. He uses the same catch-phrase over and over and year to year. Kind of reminds me of a Scoop member.

I lost respect for him when he continued to have fund raisers in his Sarasota home for a local State politician. The politician owned a number of auto dealerships who was accused of receiving the maximum allowable donation from his hundreds of employees, than funneling the money back to employees ‘under the table’. No penalties were ever applied. Kind of like the North Carolina deal.

Introductory press conference the new Ohio State coach noted the recruit-rich area of Ohio and Indiana. I don’t remember the rank of Butler recruits this year but it is pretty high on the national scale.